Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Unless you’ve been living somewhere very, very deep in the
ocean, you know that Godzilla has stomped his way into theaters. Actually, if you do live there, you probably
swam for your life when he awakened. Anyway,
the flick is proving to be quite divisive among fans of the longest running franchise
in film history. Some are hailing the
first American made Godzilla flick as the best kaiju movie in decades. That’s right, I said the FIRST American
Godzilla. I don’t know what you were
thinking about, but it wasn’t a Godzilla flick.
It just wasn’t. Arguments will
not be tolerated. Others are saying that
the summer tentpole action flick is not a vehicle befitting of the King of the
Monsters. Either way, the time has come
once again for nature to point out the folly of men.

My biggest fear about an American Godzilla flick was that it
would take after Pacific Rim and look like a cartoon. My hatred for CGI is well documented, and I
went into this movie fully expecting a CGI Godzilla to drive me into a frenzy
of righteous indignation. Well, I’m
about to say something I have only said in one other review over the last three
and a half years… the CGI in this flick looks fantastic. I would go so far as to say that this is the
best computer generated monster that cinema has ever produced. I will always be a rubber suit kinda guy, but
visually this movie absolutely does our favorite gorilla-whale justice;
maintaining that classic purposeful grimace and terrible sound. While I didn’t dig the rather generic design
of the MUTOs so much (pretty much just like the Cloverfield monster), they look
great as well. Even the digitally
created environments impressed. Not once
while watching it did I cringe at the visual effects, and I can’t remember the
last time I could say that about a modern fantasy “blockbuster.” I also love that Gareth Edwards took a more
old-school approach to the action sequences.
Whereas almost all action flicks these days follow that “shake the
camera and edit it as quickly as possible” style that makes the Transformers
flicks so unwatchable, this flick lets the shots linger, allowing the audience
to revel in the sheer majesty of Godzilla’s presence.

Most of the vitriol being thrown at the movie by critics and
fans centers around two things, the weakness of the overall story and
Godzilla’s lack of screen time. Those
who decry the lameness of the romantic subplot and the uninteresting human
element are actually one hundred percent right.
The love story is contrived and eye-rollingly sappy. With the exception of Bryan Cranston as the
kooky scientist with all of the answers who no one will listen to and Ken
Watanabe as the scientist there to look distraught, no one is particularly
likable. Ford Brody (really?) is your
generic good guy with a tragic past, and Kick-Ass plays him like he’s trying to
emote while heavily sedated. Elizabeth Olsen’s
acting is laughably bad as the wife he may or may not make it back to. Everyone else is just plain unmemorable.

I ask you, however, is this either surprising or a big
problem? I don’t think so. When was the last time that the humans in a
Godzilla flick presented an engaging, emotional story? Hell, when was the last time they even
mattered? That’s right, the first
one. People forget that Gojira (as well
as its American counterpart for that matter) was more than a monster
flick. In its day, it was considered
controversial and somewhat subversive.
It used the story of a rampaging beast to address a lot of subjects that
were extremely taboo in Japanese society.
It was dark, intense, and pretty powerful when viewed in context. Then, when Godzilla himself became hugely
popular, the human story became secondary.
They’re just there to deliver a little exposition and run away screaming. Nothing more than the plate that the action
is served up on. Would it have been nice
to have a powerful story with well-drawn characters framing the
destruction? Of course, but I think it’s
a bit ridiculous to go in expecting that.
Those that did may have forgotten what kind of movie they bought a
ticket for.

The other problem people are having is the lack of Godzilla
in Godzilla. I didn’t time it, but I
would estimate that Big G is on screen for about 20 minutes out of the film’s
123. Sure, I would have liked to see a
lot more of the main man, but there are quite a few factors that keep me from
sweating the titular monster’s meager screen time. I get what they were going for and I think it
worked. Godzilla is in the flick just
enough for the story they’re telling. I
know, I know, I was expecting a Final Wars style balls-to-the-wall monster romp
too. But it’s more along the lines of
the first one and I’m cool with that because when Godzilla IS on screen, it’s
magical. Even when we’re not beholding
him in all his glory, those glimpses are enough to make me feel like I did as a
kid watching the old flicks on late night TV.
For example, for a while we only see Godzilla’s back as he swims across
the Pacific towards the inevitable city-destroying confrontation. It plays like an action hero’s “someone is
gonna get their skull caved in” walk.
You know what’s coming, and it’s gonna be glorious. Plus, we get some great moments with the
MUTOs outside of their interaction with Godzilla. There is one scene (I won’t give too much
away, but it involves a train trestle) that is one of the strongest moments in
the flick. I also have my doubts that
those killer visual effects would look nearly as good had the animators had an
entire movie’s worth of kaiju footage to contend with as opposed to focusing on
keeping fewer scenes looking so bad ass, making it a question of quality over
quantity.

My one major issue is that it’s about 15 minutes too
long. I will admit to looking at my
watch a couple of times, particularly during the first half, and wondering when
business was gonna pick up. Don’t get me
wrong, when it does get going it clicks on all cylinders. It just takes its sweet time getting
there. Had they paced the expository
stories faster, or cut some of it altogether, it would have fixed
everything. No one would be
bitching. The story wouldn’t have time
to feel uninspired and the human to Godzilla ratio would be more along the
lines of what people were expecting.
It’s fine as it stands, but it seems to me that some tightening up would
have made it a stronger flick and delivered something closer to what the people
who didn’t dig it seem to have been looking for.

Random Thought #1: I must have reacted loudly to a lingering
close up of one of my beloved Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, because people
looked at me like I was crazy. I
couldn’t help it. I love those little
guys, and seeing one on an IMAX screen made me one happy Bogey.

Random Thought #2: Speaking of IMAX, see it that way if at
all possible. I’m not normally a big
IMAX fan, but if there was ever a movie that demanded to be seen on the biggest
screen possible it’s this one.

Random Thought #3: Bryan Cranston reminded me a lot of Adam
West in this flick for some reason that I can’t put my finger on.

Is this the Godzilla flick that I was expecting? Nope.
Is it the Godzilla flick I wanted?
Kinda. Is it a Godzilla flick
that I enjoyed the hell out of? Damn
straight. It got too slow for my tastes
here and there, but when Big G showed up, all of that was a distant
memory. I literally found myself, on
more than one occasion, cheering at the top of my voice in the theater before I
even knew I was doing it. Outside of
that rare, incredible kill in a horror flick, that never happens. When I looked around, the rest of the crowd
was cheering too. As I said before, I
felt like a kid watching this. As long
as you know what kind of movie you’re going into, I think it will have the same
effect on you. Here’s hoping that this
is the first of many stateside trips for the terror of Tokyo. Godzilla proves, once again, that he will always
be King of the Monsters. Long live the
King!